On Saturday, Oct. 29, the Los Angeles Angels named Arizona Diamondbacks executive Jerry DiPoto as the team’s new general manager. He replaces Tony Reagins, who remains with the team as a special assistant.

I think this is a great hire for the Angels. DiPoto has been involved with Major League Baseball as either a player or executive since 1989, and has proven himself as a solid candidate for the job. He’s one of the men responsible for the Diamondbacks’ worst-to-first turnaround from the 2010 season to this year.

DiPoto was the senior vice president for scouting and player development for Arizona, which should mean something for Angels fans. This is what DiPoto specializes in. The Angels have struggled to develop some of its recent top prospects (Brandon Wood(notes) comes to mind), and the farm system itself is no longer the well full of talent it used to be. DiPoto will be responsible for reversing this trend. The Angels have their share of aging veterans, especially in the outfield, and talent needs to be developed from within the organization to take their place.

Given his track record with the Diamondbacks, I’m excited to see what DiPoto can do with a team that will be able to give him more financial backing to do his job. I would think he’d also have a say in filling the other open front-office positions, including farm director and assistant GM. In other words, DiPoto will have an opportunity to completely reshape the Angels’ system.

Some fans may argue that there isn’t a need to re-vamp the Angels front office, but I think the team’s results on the field in the past two years show something different. The club hasn’t been awful by any means, but the Angels have played below expectations for the payroll they carry. Their system has become stale, and even though the team has youngsters Mike Trout(notes) and Mark Trumbo(notes) developed and ready to perform at the Major League-level, changes need to be made.

The truth is the Angels don’t have the income to maintain the payroll they’ve had in the past few years. They need to develop from within if the Angels are ever going to win another World Series. Signing over-priced free agents isn’t the answer. I believe the club acknowledged that when they chose DiPoto instead of someone known for wheeling and dealing for veterans.

The Angels made a good decision with DiPoto, and I can’t wait to see how well he does preparing the team for the future. I predict he’ll have an outstanding career leading the team’s front office.

Derek Ciapala has been a fan of the Angels since childhood. His favorite Angels moment is when they won the 2002 World Series in seven games over the San Francisco Giants. You can follow him on Twitter @dciapala.

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SEATTLE, Aug. 31 (UPI) — Mike Trout hit two home runs and drove in five runs Tuesday in the Los Angeles Angels’ 13-6 win over the Seattle Mariners.

The 12-hit attack snapped the Angels’ two-game losing streak and kept them 3 1/2 games behind first-place Texas in the American League West.

Jerome Williams (2-0) gave up four runs on seven hits in seven innings for the victory. He struck out six and won for the second time since returning to the Major Leagues following a stint in Taiwan that began after the 2007 season.

Erik Aybar added a two-run double for the Angels, who scored eight runs in the fourth inning to blow the game open.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a two-run single in the seventh inning. Miguel Olivo was 3-for-4 with two RBI.

Anthony Vasquez (1-1) took the loss in his second Major League start. Vasquez allowed eight runs — seven earned — in four-plus innings.

Encarnacion has reached base safely in 16 of his past 28 plate appearances and is riding a season-high 13-game hitting streak. He’s hitting .409 (18 for 44) over that span.

“He feels very good at the plate and is obviously seeing the ball well,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. “He’s not expanding the strike zone, he’s getting good pitches to hit, and he has done an excellent job for us.”

Encarnacion, who did not speak to reporters, was batting .240 on July 6. He had a three-hit game the next night, a four-hit game the following night and hasn’t looked back since. He went 2 for 5 Sunday, boosting his average to .287.

“When you look at the total number of walks he has drawn since the All-Star break, it’s a drastic difference from the first half,” Farrell said.

Eighteen of Encarnacion’s 27 walks this season have come since the break.

Yunel Escobar walked to begin the 10th against Fernando Rodney (2-5). Mark Teahen struck out and Jose Bautista walked before Hisanori Takahashi came on to retire Adam Lind on a popup. Encarnacion followed with a base hit up the alley in left-center, scoring Escobar with the winning run as Encarnacion’s teammates ran out and mobbed him at second base.

“Not a good road trip,” Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said of a 2-4 swing through New York and Toronto. “We’ll just have to try and bounce back, starting tomorrow.”

Second in the AL West, the Angels return home Monday to open a four-game series against Texas. The Angels play the Rangers seven times in their next 12 games.

“It’s make or break here coming up,” starter Dan Haren said. “This is probably one of the toughest stretches of our schedule.”

Sunday’s defeat was the fifth time this season the Angels have lost when leading after eight innings.

“We feel that if we get leads on a consistent basis, we’re going to hold them,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “Our issue has been the margins by which we’ve been getting leads late has been very, very tight. With deep offenses, that one-run lead in the eighth or ninth puts a lot of pressure on guys.”

Jon Rauch (5-3) pitched one inning for Toronto.

Trailing 4-3 to begin the ninth against Angels closer Jordan Walden, Colby Rasmus hit a one-out double off the wall in right and scored when rookie Brett Lawrie followed with a double to center.

“I missed with a couple of fastballs,” Walden said. “I should have kept them down. One of those days, I guess.”

For Walden, the blown save was his major league-leading eighth of the season. He’s blown six on the road, also most in the big leagues.

Bautista hit his major-league leading 34th home run and Eric Thames also connected for the Blue Jays, who had lost six of 10 coming in.

“Jordan is still going through his growing pains as a closer,” Scioscia said. “He just couldn’t close out that ninth.”

ANAHEIM, Calif., April 26 (UPI) — Jered Weaver posted his sixth win in six starts this season Monday, tossing a seven-hit shutout in the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-0 whitewash of Oakland.

Weaver (6-0) extended his major-league lead in wins while lowering his American League-best ERA to 0.99 with his third career shutout.

The right-hander yielded only one walk while striking out 10 — improving his major-league best total to 49 in 45 2/3 innings — and became the first pitcher to win six of his team’s first 23 games since Randy Johnson did it for Arizona in 2002.

Howie Kendrick stroked a two-run single among his two hits for the Angels, who broke a four-game losing streak.

A’s starter Gio Gonzalez (2-2) surrendered four earned runs on eight hits over five innings.

Coco Crisp went 3-for-4 for Oakland, which lost for the fourth time in six contests.

One of baseball’s best middle relievers of the last decade announced his retirement Friday.

Scot Shields, who pitched all 10 of his major league seasons for the Los Angeles Angels, was pitching on an aching left knee the past few years and hinted last season would be his last.

Shields, 35, was among the most reliable and resilient setup men in recent baseball history, going 46-44 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in his career. He spent his career locking down the eighth inning for Angels closers Troy Percival, Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes.

“I am very thankful to have had the privilege and opportunity to play this great game at the major league level,” Shields said in a statement. “I retire with memories and experiences I will carry with me the rest of my life and for that I am extremely grateful.”

Drafted in the 38th round in 1997 out of Lincoln Memorial University, Shields debuted for the Angels in 2001, was a long reliever during their World Series season in 2002 and became a stalwart of manager Mike Scioscia’s bullpen the following season, when he had a 2.85 ERA. From 2003 to ’08, Shields averaged 65 appearances and had a 3.05 ERA.

Since the hold stat was created in 1999, Shields holds the American League career record in that category with 155.

He was chosen the “setup man of the decade” by Sports Illustrated for 2000-09. In 2004, Shields and Rodriguez each had more than 100 strikeouts, becoming the first pair of relievers to do so since 1997.

“He definitely understood the challenge of pitching late in games and in doing so, became the best setup man in baseball,” Scioscia said.

Mark Saxon covers the Angels for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Follow Mark Saxon on Twitter: @markasaxon

Jered Weaver(notes) has been with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for all five seasons of his major-league career and has gone 64-39 with a 3.55 ERA in that time. Last season, he struck out more batters than any other pitcher in Major League Baseball: 233. Now that’s a guy you want to keep onboard.

And the Angels are apparently giving it a try. ESPN Los Angeles reports that the two sides are trying to work out a long-term contract extension for the 28-year-old before an arbitration hearing can take place in late February.

Weaver, who made $4.63 million last season, and his agent, Scott Boras, have asked for $8.8 million for the coming season while the Angels would rather pay him $7.365 million. He’s under contract till the end of the 2012 season.

“I have no idea (if we’ll get a deal done),” Angels GM Tony Reagins said, according to ESPN Los Angeles. “Any time you have dialogue, it’s positive.”

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Source: ESPN Los Angeles

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